Monday, September 22, 2008

First Day of Fall!!

Hello dear readers, Happy Fall!! Yesterday I thought I would begin the celebration so I bought Mums and a few little pumpkins. Ahhh.

Lately, I have been walking to work. It's about 50 blocks and takes me an hour to walk from my apartment. It's one of the best parts about my day even though I am usually pretty rushed in the morning trying to leave on time. I'm not one of those people who hears their alarm and jumps out of bed ready to start the day. One of my friends described her morning to be just that and I think I just stared at her for a good, long while in disbelief that anyone could hear their alarm at 5:30am and just pop out of bed. Yeah, I'm definitely a snoozer. I'll hit that thing til the last possible second.

But once I get ready and am out the door, it's so nice. I say a quick hello to my wonderful doormen and wish them a great day and then begin my walk. Not to bring it up AGAIN, but really, my walks are like those of Meg Ryan's in You've Got Mail, when she walks out and the air is crisp and people are all around getting coffee and she talks of bouquets of sharpened pencils! So once I begin to walk, I am immediately greeted with UES's finest. I pass children skipping along in their school uniforms and parents sometimes skipping along too. Of course today I saw a poor Father practically shoving his teary-eyed, wailing child into the school bus. But it's mostly parents getting their kids off to school and the occasional UES Mother walking her tiny dog with cigarette in hand watching her Nanny carry a pile of backpacks, lunchboxes, scooters, juice boxes all the while trying to comb the kid's hair. Ahh Nanny life, more on that later.

But it's such a relaxing walk. I'll usually pick a sermon to listen to and my rotation includes Keller (of course), Piper and Matt Chandler. It's an amazing time and I would suggest it to all New Yorker's- especially since the 4/5/6 trains are a nightmare in the morning. Seriously. All rules on normal spatial boundaries are thrown out the window as you're forced to become like cattle being herded, pushed and squeezed into this tiny subway car and stand so close (SO CLOSE) to complete strangers. I actually read a great article in the NYT about how lucky we would be if we were in fact actually treated like cattle in the subways. Apparently when they travel they have to have X amount of room between them and the next. (Something like that, I'm sure soon-to-be Vet. Dr. Michelle could tell us more, holla Michelle! Only 2 more years!! :) ) But anyway, all that to say subway's are crazy in the morning and I think everyone should walk to work.

I will say, that last week I made cookies and brought them into work. A little 'it's been a horrible week on the economy so let's hope the market is better today' kinda sugar boost. I had to take the subway because who wants to walk an hour with a tray of homemade cookies?!?! (Although I sorta have issues with taking food down into the dirty subways, even though they were well saran wraped.) But anyways, I was a sight to see. You would have thought I was carrying a bomb or something. What? What are those cookies? Did she bake them? She must have an oven, but did she actually use it? I'm confused. Are those cookies? Are they homemade? Did she actually spend time making them? What's going on?!?!?

Yes, folks. This is New York. Where lunch is delivered and dinner is take out. Desserts brought to any kind of function or party is usually a cheesecake from a bakery, cupcakes from Buttercup (my fav.), Magnolia (my second fav.) or Crumbs, etc. I hate to draw attention to myself when walking anywhere in NYC, but I had no idea that getting from my apt to work with a small plate of homemade goodness would draw so many stares from strangers. The paper guy who hands out the daily, free paper said as I passed, "No thanks, I've already eaten." Funny. And the subway controller squealed in delight as I passed by. So there you have it, friends and family and strangers who use your ovens and bake and cook. New York loves food, lives for food and has thousands of restaurants but clearly, it is seldom to see any sort of homemade anything roaming the streets.Disclaimer: this isn't always the case, though. My friends and I do make homemade dinners every Friday night and all of my friends are fabulous bakers!